Mike Mussina: Hall of Famer?

Thanks for that. There are a few people on here who act like flaming assholes on these threads when someone has an opinion that differs from theirs.

All of those players you mentioned are in for different reasons. Robin Roberts relative to his era was better regarded than Mike Mussina was during his. Jim Bunning didn't get elected when he was eligible -- he was a veteran's committee selection. He is actually a pretty good comparison to Mussina in terms of how good he was, and how he was regarded when he played. Bunning was a very good pitcher, but on a list of pitchers from the 50s and 60s, he would not be in most peoples' group of the handful of very best. I kind of consider Mussina that way.

Sutton, Blyleven, Niekro got in because of longevity. I agree with you if you don't think any of them belong in the Hall, but even if the argument is that they are in, therefore. ... Mussina didn't compile the kinds of numbers they did, so if he gets in it won't be for the reason they got through the gate.

Mussina may get in eventually. He's a close call. I expect his percentage to creep up and at least get close. If I was voting, he's about where I'd draw my line, with him falling on the outside because he isn't in the same class as several of his peers who have already been elected, and he didn't have any of the signature moments (for example, Jack Morris' game 7 performance in the 1991 series being one thing I pointed out on that other thread where Whitman was acting like a jerk too) that might put him over the top. If someone disagrees with me because they watched Mussina play and they just feel differently, I can get it. We are discussing borderline Hall of Famers. Jack Morris peaked out at about 67 percent of the vote. Clearly there were people who thought he belonged. And there are clearly people who feel Mussina belongs. He's a reasonably close call. He just falls short for me.

 

Here was what I said: "Pettitte was a well above average post-season pitcher." Notice, I didn't qualify him the way I did the others I pointed out. ... Nothing like, " ridiculously a big game pitcher." I am pretty realistic about what Andy Pettitte was and wasn't.

Yes, Pettitte had a couple of brutal postseason starts. He got shelled in games in the WS in 96 against Atlanta and the WS in 2001 against Arizona.

But again, just to make sure I actually watched what I what I watched during Pettitte's career, I did the same thing I did for Mussina (the Yankees won 6 of Mussina's post-season starts and lost 9. I never felt great with Mussina getting the start in those kinds of games) . Pettitte had 40 post-season starts as Yankee. The Yankees won 25 of those games and lost 15 of them.